An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 16 – Off Campus Activities

should provide alternative on-campus activities or permit students to stay home instead of participating in the off-campus activity.

2. R ELEASE O F O RDINARY N EGLIGENCE A waiver may include a release only for acts that occur as a result of “ordinary negligence.” The California Supreme Court has defined ordinary negligence as “a failure to exercise the degree of care in a given situation that a reasonable person under similar circumstances would perform to protect others from harm.” 2172 A waiver may not include acts of “gross negligence,” which means either an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct or the want of even a scant care. 2173 City of Santa Barbara v. Superior Court A developmentally disabled child drowned in a pool while participating in the City’s summer camp for disabled children. The City had assigned an employee to keep the child under close observation during the camp’s swimming lessons. However, the child drowned when the employee assigned to monitor this child looked away. The parents brought a wrongful death action against the City, which responded by asserting that the parents were precluded from suing because of a waiver releasing the City and its employees for “any negligent act.” The Court determined that as a matter of public policy the waiver could only protected the City from ordinary negligence and did not protect it from gross negligence. 2174 3. A CKNOWLEDGMENT A ND A SSUMPTION O F R ISK Schools should be explicit about acknowledging the risks involved in an off-campus activity. The types of activities students may participate in, and dangers associated with them, should be set out clearly. Accurate descriptions ensure that the risks are properly acknowledged by those signing the waiver and result in informed consent. Assumption of risk means that an individual has voluntarily participated in an activity that includes inherent risks that cannot be avoided. In those situations, a school is relieved from its obligation to use reasonable care and should not be held liable for an injury resulting from an inescapable hazard. 2175 While participation in sports is the most common example of an assumption of risk, 2176 where a school sufficiently describes the activities that are part of an off- campus activity, an assumption of risk argument may also provide a defense. LCW Practice Advisor Some schools only provide families with a “permission slip” as a requirement for participation in off-campus activities. A permission slip may provide schools with

an assumption of risk defense, but it may not be sufficient to provide other defenses for the school.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 534